#Good Shepherd

[thewordfortheday]

THE WORD FOR 21/8

The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Psalm 23:1

Like sheep we need the tender care of our Shepherd.

For He alone

- meets our needs (I shall not be in want)

- gives us rest (makes me lie down in green pastures)

- guide us in the right path (leads me in the path of righteousness)

- protects us from evil (I fear no evil, for You are with me)

- gives us comfort (Your rod and staff comfort me)

- vindicates us (spreads a table before me in front of my foes)

- blesses us richly (my cup overflows)

- gives us abundant life (goodness and mercy will follow me)

- and eternal life (I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever)

The Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd, has our journey perfectly planned. As long as we're following His voice, and He is our Shepherd we will never be in want!

[portraitsofsaints]

Good Shepherd Sunday

I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. John 10: 14-16

Prints, plaques & holy cards available for purchase here: (website)

[eastvillagetripster]

Painting with Glass

Good Shepherd stained glass window, New York Historical museum, 77th Street and Central Park West, Upper West Side, Manhattan.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Good Shepherd

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. — John 10:11 | (NASB77) New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Cross References: Psalm 23:1; Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:2; Ezekiel 34:11; Ezekiel 34:23; John 10:2; John 10:14

Read full chapter

I Am the Good Shepherd

[jessicalprice]

adventures in christian opinions about judaism

(reposted from Twitter)

So a while back I started writing a thing on the trio of parables that ends with the prodigal son (which I still need to finish) and like MAN OH MAN do Christian commentators insist that Jews hate shepherds.

Like, I can't even count the number of commentaries that insist that shepherds were "despised figures" for first-century Jews and the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin were designed to insult the Pharisees by comparing them first to a shepherd and then to a woman.

So, as is my wont whenever Christian commentators make a claim about what was normal for first-century Judaism, I decided to try to hunt down their source on this.

As I've said many times, when it comes to Christian parable interpreters' claims about what attitudes/beliefs/etc. were normal for first-century Jews, get used to the phrase "no sources are cited."

I mean, first off, as a 21st-century Jew, the insistence that 1st-century Jews hated shepherds rings odd, given that <checks notes> Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Rachel, all of Jacob's kids (the founders of the tribes), David, etc. were all sheep-tenders. The image of God as a shepherd is pretty consistent throughout the Tanakh. That image reappears in the Qumran texts, which as far as I know, are one of the few Jewish sources we have from 1st-century Judaea.

The term "despised" gets used a lot, so I decided to dig into that one.

When I was able to find citations, I traced them back to an 1882 commentary by a guy named Frederic Farrar.

Farrar cites Heinrich Meyer as a source for this, but when I looked up THAT citation, it's Meyer saying that shepherds were a "lowly but patriarchally consecrated class" -- in other words, poor, but with a distinguished history and status.

So that's why everyone's tossing the term "despised" around--because Farrar just made it up. But what about primary sources? I went back on the hunt.

Surprisingly, in a number of reference works, like glossaries and Jeffers's "Greco-Roman World of the New Testament," I found similar assertions about the common attitude toward shepherds, for which they cited...

<drum roll>

Aristotle. You know, the Greek guy who lived 300 years before Jesus? Definitely a reliable source for Jewish attitudes of the time.

Some people cited Philo's On Agriculture. Okay, Philo was at least Jewish and lived when Jesus would have, although he was a wealthy Hellenized Jew living in Alexandria rather than a Pharisee living in the Galilee. But okay, at least it's the right culture and time period. (The reference in Philo turns out to be talking about the section of Genesis in which Joseph's brothers come visit him in Egypt. It talks about how they were proud to be shepherds, and criticizes (gentile) kings who look down on shepherds.)

Then we've got Mishnah Kiddushin, in which a bunch of rabbis are having a debate about which professions make you trustworthy vs untrustworthy, and one rabbi lists everyone from camel-drivers to herders to barbers to shopkeepers as untrustworthy. Another rabbi comes back and is like, nah, all those people are fine upstanding folks; it's doctors and butchers you've gotta watch out for. So they're citing one cranky dude with a LONG list of people he doesn't like, who immediately gets shot down, as evidence of the normative attitude for Jews about a century earlier.

Oh, and we've got a citation of Midrash Tehillim which says that God-as-shepherd doesn't have any of the failings of humans-as-shepherds, which... sure. Also, it was codified in the 1300s?

The most compelling citation is from the Talmud (Sanhedrin 25b), in which the rabbis discuss who's qualified to be a legal witness. They exclude shepherds, because shepherds graze their animals on other people's land, which some of the rabbis see as a type of theft.

The Talmud is a record of debates, but this passage definitely makes it sound like this is a majority opinion. (It should be noted that the passage disqualifies all KINDS of people, from those who lend with interest to those who fly pigeons, as having conflicts of interest.)

But the important thing here is that the Talmud includes records of debates from as late as the 4th or 5th centuries CE (300-400 years after Jesus's time), and the passage makes a point of noting that the disqualification of shepherds as witnesses is a later development.

So in other words, the idea that the Pharisees hated shepherds and would have been insulted by Jesus telling a story in which the protagonist was a shepherd is based either on Greek attitudes that are 300 years too early or Jewish ones that are 300-400 years too late.

But people will twist themselves into citation knots (or just not bother citing a source at all) to insist that this was a common attitude so they can position the Pharisees as hating those charming humble shepherds and their fuzzy little lambs.

As to WHY this idea seems to be so important to them, well, you cannot read about Luke 15 without encountering the word "outcast" roughly 90 times per page.

The framing is Jesus was friend to The Outcasts while the Pharisees despised The Outcasts and the Lost Sheep, Coin, and Sons are all parables about accepting The Outcast.

Never mind that neither the sheep, the coin, nor either of the sons got kicked out of their communities. The sheep wandered off, as sheep are wont to do, the coin was lost by its owner, and the younger son decided to leave to go on a spending spree while the older son declined to attend the welcome back party for him after his dad managed to hire a band and caterers but never thought to let his own son know what was going on and he had to find out from a hired hand.

Moreover, the term "outcasts" gets used as a synonym for "tax collectors and sinners." Tax collectors were usually pretty well-off because they ran a protection racket for the Romans. Outcasts? I mean, I guess? But hardly in the "marginalized and powerless" sense.

As far as "sinners," the NT doesn't usually bother telling us what, exactly, they did to "sin," but on the rare occasions when it does offer that context, it's almost always wealthy people.

But why talk about that when they can present the objection the Pharisees had to Jesus's dining with "tax collectors and sinners" as the Pharisees despising lowly outcasts, and insist that the Pharisees hated the idea of such people repenting and returning, and so Jesus was tweaking their noses by comparing them to shepherds and women.

As if, you know, teshuvah wasn't something the Pharisees were ALL ABOUT. If you want to actually understand, consider that the iconic tax collector in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector shows no inclination to STOP being a tax collector.

The objection wasn't you're having a friendly dinner with poor lowly outcasts for whom we have contempt. It was you're having a friendly dinner with people who are extorting their neighbors on behalf of the invaders who kill us for looking at them funny and have expressed no intention to stop doing that.

Now, there's a good discussion to be had about whether shunning Trump lawyers and Marjorie Taylor-Greene donors or inviting them to dinner and trying to win them over with compassion is more effective, more ethical, more compassionate (to whom?), etc.

But presumably we can see why people of intelligence and goodwill might disagree on which of those approaches is the right thing to do, and why such people might might object to the strategy they don't agree with.

But what really gets me is that Christians have the utter fucking NERVE to paint the Pharisees as inhumanly awful for not wanting to have dinner with tax collectors while viewing Corinthians as Holy Writ:

I mean, Paul's all YOU MUST SHUN ALCOHOLICS AND PEOPLE WHO ARE GREEDY and Christians are like yes, that makes sense, but if the Pharisees are like, no, I don't want to have dinner with that guy who narced on my cousin and got him crucified, Christians are like, they're monsters.

Cool, cool.

Anyway, this has been your weekly edition of Christians Need To Stop Just Making Shit Up About Jews And Then Citing Each Other Like It's Fact.

And there were a lot of "I've never heard anyone say Jews of Jesus's time hated shepherds..." responses: Maybe you haven't, but that doesn't make it uncommon.

Sources in which I've found it:

Craig Blomberg (Denver Seminary, Society of Biblical Literature, Tyndale House, NIV translation committee)

Jared Wilson (professor at multiple Baptist seminaries)

Stephen Wright (Spurgeon College (British evangelical college))

Arland Hultgren (Luther Seminary (ELCA))

Kenneth Bailey (Presbyterian/Episcopalian)

Joachim Jeremias (Lutheran, cited EVERYWHERE)

Bernard Brandon Scott (Disciples of Christ, the Jesus Seminar)

Klyne Snodgrass (Evangelical Covenant Church)

Barbara Reid (Catholic Biblical Association)

That particular trope spans denominations, decades, etc. It's not a fringe viewpoint.

[apenitentialprayer]

I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you and it as well.

Samwise Gamgee (J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King)

[dramoor]

"Every once in a while, a ewe will give birth to a lamb and reject it. There are many reasons she may do this. If the lamb is returned to the ewe, the mother may even kick the poor animal away. Once a ewe rejects one of her lambs, she will never change her mind.

These little lambs will hang their heads so low that it looks like something is wrong with its neck. Their spirit is broken. These lambs are called 'bummer lambs.' Unless the Shepherd intervenes, that lamb will die, rejected and alone. So, do you know what the Shepherd does?

He takes that rejected little one into His home, hand-feeds it and keeps it warm by the fire. He will wrap it up with blankets and hold it to His chest so the bummer can hear His heartbeat. Once the lamb is strong enough, the Shepherd will place it back in the field with the rest of the flock.

But that sheep never forgets how the Shepherd cared for him when his mother rejected him. When the Shepherd calls for the flock, guess who runs to Him first?

That is right, the bummer sheep. He knows His voice intimately. It is not that the bummer lamb is loved more, it just knows intimately the One who loves it and has experienced that love one on one.

So many of us are bummer lambs, rejected and broken. But He is the good Shepherd. He cares for our every need and holds us close to His heart so we can hear His heartbeat.

I am a bummer lamb adopted and loved by The Good Shepherd!"

~Author Unknown (via Twitter)

[jenfoundabug]

Ants in the genus Formica defending their aphid farm on the underside of some wildflowers in Tahoe National Forest (Sierra Mountains), California. Many ants in this genus feed primarily on honeydew, a sugary substance excreted by aphids. The ant colony takes care of their livestock, moving aphids to new locations if they need more food and protecting them from predation. Outside of humans, ants are some of the only animals that grow and tend their own food.

And here's a slightly better photo of the aphids:

[anastpaul]

One Minute Reflection – 9 June – “ Rejoice with Me because I have found My sheep which was lost.” - Luke 15:6

One Minute Reflection – 9 June – “The Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus” and within the Octave of the Sacred Heart – Saints Primus and Felicianus (Died c304) Confessors, Brother Lay Martyrs – 1 Peter 5:6-11; Luke 15:1-10 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/ “ Rejoice with Me because I have found My sheep which was lost.” – Luke 15:6 REFLECTION – “When the time of mercy had come (Ps…

[lionofchaeronea]

The Good Shepherd, James Tissot, between 1886 and 1894

[thewordfortheday]

The LORD is my Shepherd; therefore, I shall not be in want. Psalm 23:1

I shall lack nothing, because I have the best possible shepherd taking care of me. He makes me lie down in green pastures. (Psalm 23:1-2) Our Shepherd leads and feeds us. Our Shepherd guards and guides us. Our Shepherd is good and gracious to us forever. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep and then rose again victorious over all our foes. With our Good Shepherd beside us, we have no evil to fear and every good to look forward to! Hallelujah!

[polishwomenartists-sztukakobiet]

Beata Ewa Białecka, Dobry Pasterz [Good Shepherd], 2007,  oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm. Courtesy of the artist. @abwwia

[momentsbeforemass]

What are you so worried about?

(by request, my homily from Sunday)

What are you so worried about?

My first thought, when someone asks that, is “how much time do you have?”

Because I’ve got a list. Stuff I’m worried about. Stuff I should be worried about. Stuff I forgot to be worried about - that’s going surprise me later when I remember it.

There may be different things on it, but every one of us has a list like that. We’ve got a lot to be worried about.

That’s where you and I are at, when we hear today’s Psalm,

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.”

It’s a breath of fresh air – compared to everything that you and I are worried about. One that sounds great, if you’re a sheep.

I grew up grain farming with my dad. We didn’t have livestock. So, I didn’t know much about sheep.

We had some cousins who raised sheep a few miles up the road. I’d always see the sheep standing out there in the pasture when we drove past.

Watching how they moved in one big bunch, seeing how the sheep followed my cousins around, they never struck me as being very bright animals.

But seeing sheep from a car window for a few seconds as you drive past? That doesn’t give you the whole picture.

I found this out the first time I actually worked with sheep.

It turns out that what Jesus is saying in the Gospel about who sheep will follow is right.

Sheep won’t follow just anybody. In fact, they won’t follow anybody – until they get to know you.

If you go out in the pasture and start calling sheep that don’t know you, they’ll just look at you.

They don’t waste their time with people they don’t know.

Sheep are very peaceful animals.

If you get upset and start yelling at them, they’ll just walk away.  

They don’t waste their time with people who are upset and agitated.

As it turns out, sheep do what they do, because they know what they want.

And what they want is to be at peace.

And they do what they do - to get that. Because peace doesn’t happen by accident.

You and I can’t wait to have peace when our list of things to worry about runs out. Because every day, something else adds itself to the list. Truth be told, we’ll never get to the end of that list.    

That’s why if you and I want peace, we can’t wait for it to happen. Because peace doesn’t happen by accident.

We need peace right in the middle of it all. We need peace, even though we’ve still got a list.

So, what do sheep have to do with that?

For animals that want to be at peace, sheep are sitting ducks for pretty much anything that wants to get them.

They can’t run fast. They don’t kick very well. They don’t have claws or sharp teeth.

Sheep are basically defenseless. Sheep know this. That’s why they rely on the shepherd to take care of them.

And the shepherd does. The shepherd makes their peace possible.

When a storm’s coming in, the sheep will follow the shepherd to shelter.

When they hear wolves or coyotes, the sheep know the shepherd will fight their battles.

That is what the sheep do. What the sheep don’t do - is worry. No sheep has ever worried and “what-iffed” themselves into a sleepless night.

Because they know that as long as they’re with the shepherd, everything will be fine.

That’s what the 23rd Psalm is telling us – “yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.”

That’s what Jesus is telling us in today’s Gospel. Making it clear that there is no limit to what the Good Shepherd will do to protect His sheep.

If you and I want peace, we need to be like sheep.

As much as we may not like to admit it, there’s not much that you and I can do to stop most of what wants to be on our list of things to worry about.

And even when we can stop some of those things, you and I can’t stop everything. As hard as we try, there will always be something that finds its way onto that list.

Which is why you and I need to be like sheep.

Don’t waste your time thinking about your list of things to worry about.

Instead, think about the Good Shepherd who is watching over you. And stay in peace.

The God who has always loved you, from before you were born, is guiding you and protecting you. Even now.

That doesn’t mean that life will become magically trouble-free and nothing bad will ever happen, if you don’t focus on all the reasons to worry.

We all know from experience that sometimes the only way out is through.

But instead of looking at everything that’s on the list, instead of focusing on the reasons to worry in life, look to God.

The Good Shepherd who makes our peace possible.

When the storms come in, be like sheep.

When you hear wolves and coyotes, be like sheep.

As long as you’re with the Shepherd, everything will be fine.

This is the lesson from the sheep.

Stay in peace. Trust the Good Shepherd. Be like sheep.

Sunday’s Readings

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

He Restoreth my Soul

2 He has me lie down in grassy pastures, he leads me by quiet water 3 he restores my inner person. He guides me in right paths for the sake of his own name. — Psalm 23:2-3 | Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Cross References: Revelation 7:17; Psalm 36:8; Psalm 5:8; Psalm 19:7; Psalm 25:9; Psalm 31:3; Psalm 46:4; Psalm 65:11; Psalm 85:13; Psalm 109:21; Psalm 139:10; Psalm 143:10; Proverbs 4:11; Proverbs 8:20; Isaiah 49:10; Ezekiel 34:14-15

Read full chapter

What does it mean that the Lord is my Shepherd (Psalm 23)?

[we-love-you-jesus]

I was treated today by the beautiful ladies at our Sacred Heart Parish! Thank you!

[ad-crucem]

I am the Good Shepherd: and I know My sheep, and Mine know Me, alleluia.

Christ as the Good Shepherd, unknown artist (Bavaria, 1750)